Railway-signal



(No Model.) 2 sheets-sheet 1. E. C. WILEY. ELECTRIC RAILWAY SIGNAL.

No. 471,230. Patented Ma.r22,1892.

W/TNESSES:

A TTUHNE YS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

E. G. WILEY. -BLEGTRIG RAILWAY SIGNAL.

No. 471,230. Patented Mar. 22,1892.

W/TNESSES A TTOHNEYS' EDGAR O. VILEY, OF BRISTOL, TENNESSEE, ASSIGNOR OF TWO-THIRDS TO JAMES A. DIOKEY AND NAPOLEON B. AINSIVORTI-I, OF SAME PLACE.

ELECTRICa RAI LWAY-SIG NAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 471,230, dated March 22, 1892.

Application tiled June 18, 1891. Serial No. 396,704. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDGAR C. WILEY, of Bristol, Sullivan county, in the State of Tennessee, have invented a new Improvement in Electric Railway-Signals, of which the following is a specication.

My invention is in the nature of an improved circuit-closing device for use in connection with the system set forth in my patent, No.

445,106, granted January 20, 1891, or in connection with any other system employing a rotary commutator; and it consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of devices whereby a depressible bar acted upon by the car-wheel is made to adjust the commutator to position for making the circuits, hold it in this position for a limited time, and then allow it to be restored to its normal position, as hereinafter fully described.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the device applied to the railway-track. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section taken through line a: of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section taken through line y y of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 4 is a vertical transverse section taken through line s c. v

In the drawings, A represents the base-plate, upon which the various parts of the device are mounted. This base-plate is made of cast metal and is bolted to two of the cross-ties and is formed with a depressed portion in the middle, which fits down between the ties and helps to firmly hold the device against displacement from the lateral strain of the passing train.

Upon the baseplate are two raised abutments a a, upon which are bolted the oppositely-projecting leaf-springs B B. The outer ends of these springs are seated in recesses in the outer ends of a depressible bar C, which is formed with a double incline, with the central point the highest. This depressible bar is arranged beside the head of the rail E and in close proximity to the same and projects slightly above the rail, so that the periphery of the car-wheel will strike and depress it against the tension of the leaf-springs. To

the central part of this depressible bar is pivoted a piston-rod D, which passes through a stuffing-box b in the base -plate and is attached to a piston E,working in a cylinder F,

lthrough said circuit-wires.

which is screwed onto the bottom of the basen plate. This piston is provided with openings through it and has on top of the same an upwardly-opening valve e. The cylinder is de- 5 5 signed to be iilled with oil or other liquid. The object of this construction is to provide means 'for holding the depressible bar and the parts operated by it down to its depressed position for a definite length of time after the 6o train has passed,instead of allowing said bar to immediately rise after being depressed. This result is accomplished as follows: Vfhen the bar O is depressed by the car-wheel, the piston E is forced down and the oil below it passes upwardly through the valve to the upper side. Then after the train has passed the springs B tend to lift the bar again; but this motion is retarded by the oil above the piston, which, being unable to pass back through 7o the valve, leaks slowly around the periphery of the loosely'fitt-ed piston to the lower side of the same, thus holding down its bar O and its attached parts for the desired interval.

Upon the middle of the base-plate is mounted an inclosing case H2, which contains within it a` commutator I-I, having conductingplates on its periphery which connect with tangentially-arranged metal springs O, Fig. 4, which lead to various circuit-wires, and the 8o rotary adjustment of which commutator serves to control the direction of the current Any system of circuit-wires may be used; but that shown and described in my patent, No. 445,106, dated January 20, 1891, is the one for which it is mainly designed. The commutator H is fixed to a shaft which has its bearings in the case H2, and said commutator works with a slight friction, so as to be free from looseness by 9o reason of a soft-rubber washer CZ, Fig. 2, on its shaft retained between the collar cl2 and the case. The other end of the commutatorshaft is provided with a broad crank-arm or cam Gr, which is rigidly attached and projects 9 5 up immediately beside the depressible bar O, so as to be also struck by the wheelof the car and deflected about the axis of the cornmutator. This crank has at its lower portion on each side of the axial center a toe mwhich Ioo toes rest upon two supporting-lugs m m, depending from the depressible bar O. When said bar is depressed, the lugs m move downwardly out of the way of the toes n, and when the crank-arm G is deflected to rotate the coinmutator one of the toes n of the crankarm descends and the other rises, and when the bar C rises again after the proper interval has elapsed one of said lugs vm lifts the lower toe of the crank-arm and restores the latter toits true vertical position. It will readily be seen that the double incline of the bar C and the symmetrical shape and arrangement of the crank-arm G permit the coinlnutator to be operated by trains going in either direction.

I is an insulated contact-plate, which is designed to be iinpingcd upon by a suitable contaet-surface on the car.

In defining the present invention with greater clearncss I would call attention to my previous patent for a circuit'closing device, No. et-itil, tiled February lO, 15591, and I make no claim to anything shown therein.

I would also state in relation to the springs which support the double incline that I am aware that a different form of springs has been used in a similar relation; but the leafsprings, secured at their inner ends to the base-plate and supporting at their outer ends the outer ends of the double incline, is a novel and meritorious feature which secures the following advantages: It not only supports the inclined bar, but prevents it from being driven endwise by the horizontal thrust oi' the contact of the car-wheels, doing away entirely with all guides or pins for that purpose. It also permits a better spring action and is not liable to break or become deranged.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

l. The combination, with the base-plate, of the two ieatsprings B B, secured thereto at their inner ends, and a double-inclined dcpressible bar C, supported at its outer end upon the ends of the leaf-springs, substantiaily as shown and described.

2. The combination, with a rotary commutator having a crank-arm projecting up beside the rail and provided with toes n n, of a depressible spring-bar having lugs resting beneath the toes ot' the crank-arm, substantially as shown and described.

The combination of a commutator having a crank-arm G and a depressible springbar C, both being arranged side by side near the edge of the rail to be struck by the carwheel and the two being connected together for simultaneous restoration to normal p0sition, substantially as shown and described.

Il. The combination of the base-plate A, the two leaf-springs B B, the depressible doubleinelined bar C, mounted on said springs, the

. piston-rod D, hung to the deprcssible bar, the

EDGAR C. WILEY.

lifitnesses:

ALFRED Luicco'rir, C. Snnuwck. 

